


Easier Done Than Said

by mousapelli



Category: Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)
Genre: Love Confessions, M/M, Magic, Post-Canon, Self Confidence Issues, True Love's Kiss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-20
Updated: 2021-02-20
Packaged: 2021-03-16 12:07:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,686
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29575839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mousapelli/pseuds/mousapelli
Summary: After Riku lends Sora his magic to help heal his heart, suddenly Sora's internal voice is much more supportive and positive. In fact, it doesn't sound like Sora's voice at all, which makes Sora start to wonder...what is it really trying to tell him?
Relationships: Riku/Sora (Kingdom Hearts)
Comments: 18
Kudos: 134





	Easier Done Than Said

**Author's Note:**

  * For [septnanis](https://archiveofourown.org/users/septnanis/gifts).
  * Inspired by [stories we can remember](https://archiveofourown.org/works/29062548) by [septnanis](https://archiveofourown.org/users/septnanis/pseuds/septnanis). 



> Maggie wrote a ficlet about Riku giving up his magic to Sora when Sora's heart is too newly repaired to call his keyblade. I liked the idea so much that I started writing about the next part for my shiritori turn, and then it went out of control, like happens a lot. 
> 
> You can maybe read mine without starting with Maggie's, but I think reading hers first would probably help. The official link up there won't take you directly to the right chapter, so here's a link: [ch 25 Magic All Around You](https://archiveofourown.org/works/29062548/chapters/71337732).

Doubt was something Sora was all too familiar with, a voice inside himself whenever he was quiet enough to hear it. _You’re just a kid from the Islands_ , it said when he looked in any mirror in the Mysterious Tower, or the reflection of his Gummiphone just after the screen went black. _What are you even doing here?_ When Sora was tired or worried, the voice asked all the questions Sora could never answer for himself, if he was really good enough to be a hero of light, or worth any of the power his heart’s connections brought to him, or strong enough to keep his keyblade when it wasn’t his to start with. 

That last thought had been the loudest ever since Riku had brought him home from Quadratum. Sora had woken up with a newly-reconstructed heart inside his chest and not much else; instead of constant hum of magic, there was nothing, a vacuum. Was there any hope he’d kept his keyblade when he’d lost all his magic? Sora couldn’t bring himself to try, until finally Master Yen Sid asked him directly. 

“It’s too soon,” Riku protested at Sora’s obvious reluctance. “It’s only been a few days.” 

Riku fell silent when Master Yen Sid lifted a hand. “Not knowing the truth won’t change it. Sora, if you please.”

Sora took a deep breath. He held out his hand for his keyblade and nothing appeared. There wasn’t any pain, or the ache of magic, just nothing, as if he’d never known what a keyblade was at all. 

“Oh,” Sora said, not very surprised, because it was bound to happen sooner or later, wasn’t it? Borrowing the mirror of Riku’s heart’s weapon all this time, he was lucky it lasted as long as it had, and not surprising at all that being slingshot out of reality and dragged back again through dream portals with a shattered heart had finally severed that connection. 

Riku’s face, when Sora dragged his eyes up from his empty palm, was stricken. 

“It’s all right,” Sora said automatically, dull but gentle. 

“It’s _not_ ,” Riku insisted, horrified. He turned to Master Yen Sid and started asking rapid-fire questions about what they could do, what Sora could do. 

Sora listened, but he felt like he was only half there, a fuzzy hollowness inside his chest where the pulse of his reconstructed heart was like a watch ticking in a large, empty room. He opened and closed his hand, but his palm stayed empty. 

It had sunk in by the time they were walking back to the Gummiship, hurt digging in underneath Sora’s skin. Riku kept talking, filling up the space between them in the way that Sora usually did, suggesting thing after thing as if it even mattered how much of Sora’s time they filled up because he was _broken, again_. When Sora snapped at him, Riku didn’t argue but gathered him in for a hug, and when Sora uttered the most childish “It’s not fair,” as the angry tears started up in earnest, Riku rubbed his back and agreed, it isn’t, it’s not. 

Some days went by. Sora couldn’t tell how many, the perpetual bruised dusk of the Tower suiting him just fine. He spent them hiding in the Tower room he shared with Riku, in bed most of the time, sleeping for long stretches or pretending he was asleep even when he wasn’t. Riku brought him sandwiches and cookies and tea, and one time a questionable romance novel about a keyblade master and a pirate captain, but otherwise didn’t hassle Sora. He seemed preoccupied, gone for long hours and reading dense books when he was back, scowling at them until Sora almost teased him about looking like Master Yen Sid, but didn’t want to break the silence. 

Riku broke it himself eventually, sitting on the edge of Sora’s bed with an enormous leather-bound book in his lap. 

“I found a spell to give my magic to you,” Riku explained. Sora stared at him, feeling blank, unable to take in the words. “If you have magic, your heart can reconnect to your keyblade. Master Yen Sid said it’s safe for me and won’t damage my heart, so I’ll keep my keyblade. I already asked him to do the spell and—”

“Are you _crazy_?” Sora interrupted, anger reaching a flashpoint all at once. “You can’t give up your magic!”

“It wouldn’t be permanent,” Riku assured. His gaze was too intense, begging Sora to say yes, to let him fix it. “It would grow back on its own.”

“After how long?” Sora demanded. “A week? A month?” When Riku wouldn’t answer, panic rose in his chest, and Sora grabbed for Riku’s hand, needing something to grip. “No! No way!”

The argument didn’t last long, Sora burning through his energy quickly. Riku had already thought all the problems through, already solved them, because he was their real Guardian of Light, their broad-shouldered new generation Master Wielder. Riku had more magic in one arm than most people had in a whole happily ever after, and he wanted to give it all to Sora, even though Sora was the dumbass who went and lost his own in the first place. Sora hated himself a little for being selfish enough to take Riku’s magic away, but not enough to refuse to do it. 

After Master Yen Sid performed the spell, Sora could still barely believe it was real, even with new magic running under his skin like fine lightning. Riku’s magic felt too big for his body, filling up all the spaces that had been hollowed out. 

Sora had missed magic _so much_. He didn’t even pretend he was going to use Riku’s magic responsibly; out on the lawn he cast _Thundaga_ after _Thundaga_ until he was light-headed from magic drain and every hair on his body was standing on end. Then he closed his eyes and wallowed in the feeling of magic gradually re-collecting in him like steady rain filling a barrel. 

It didn’t fix everything, obviously, but it fixed one thing, maybe the worst thing. When the Kingdom Key returned to him a few days later, relief flooded Sora so intensely that he was surprised he didn’t spill a torrent of Unversed down the Tower stairs. Sora looked up, and Riku was grinning wildly back, face raw with emotion.

Sora charged Riku and the clang of the Kingdom Key against Braveheart rang through Sora like a tuning fork, bringing tears to his eyes as emotion rolled through him. Riku froze at the sight of Sora crying, dropping his guard, and got a keyblade square to his chest because Sora was too far into his swing to pull it. It knocked Riku onto his ass, Sora dropping to his knees in front of Riku with rushed apologies as Riku wheezed for air. After a second they both burst into laughter, clinging to each other as they laughed themselves breathless with relief.

Sparring with Riku was about the only thing that Sora enjoyed fully. He had a lot of retraining to do; his frustration built quickly and overflowed too easily every time his body protested relearning skills or gave out on him entirely. He could only focus on Yen Sid’s readings or Ienzo’s reports about his restructured heart a little bit at a time before he found himself fidgeting anxiously, fighting a rising urge to run away, escape to anywhere else. 

Riku never minded Sora interrupting his own studying or training, always willing to drop his task to give Sora his full attention. But as much as Sora loved that attention, there was guilt too. Without his magic Riku tired out in a half hour, when before he could have knocked Sora around all morning. Dark smudges lived under Riku’s eyes, and he yawned his way through most conversations. 

After a phone call full of invasive questions from Ienzo, Sora stomped into their room in the middle of the afternoon to demand a spar and found Riku curled up on his side in bed, sound asleep. 

It stopped Sora in his tracks; Riku _never_ napped. Sora stepped closer more quietly, drawn in by Riku’s slow breathing and hair fanned over his cheeks. Without Riku’s personality animating his features, his face was drawn with exhaustion, making Sora’s heart ache. Riku wasn’t even under the blankets, and without thinking Sora reached to pull one of the blankets over him as best he could with Riku lying in the middle of them. 

“Hm?” Riku stirred, eyes opening. His gaze was blurry with sleep, confused. “Wha’s happening? You ok?”

“Yeah, sure,” Sora said quickly. He gave the blanket a firmer yank now that he’d woken Riku up anyway, getting enough free to cover Riku. “I was just going down to make some food,” he quickly invented, sparring forgotten. “Do you want me to bring you something?”

“Yeah. That’d be nice.” Riku smiled at him, warm and unguarded, and then he was out again, cuddling deeper under the blanket. 

“What a mess,” Sora sighed to himself as he headed back down the stairs to the Tower’s kitchen. The franticness of his earlier mood was gone, but the annoyance remained, his mood spiraling down along with the staircase. As if a stupid sandwich would make up for any of this. Riku deserved a lot more than a dumb sandwich…Sora bullied a cabinet into producing a pan. He could manage a grilled cheese, at least that would be warm.

“This is stupid,” Sora muttered to himself. He hadn’t been able to find a spatula, forcing him to poke morosely at the toasting sandwiches with a fork. “I’m so stupid. This is all my fault.”

_You aren’t stupid._

Sora paused, head tilted. His internal voice had sure never said that before. 

_It isn’t all your fault._

“Yeah right,” Sora muttered, shrugging it off. He busied himself finding a couple plates and hollering for the teapot. Eating with Riku, blankets tucked around their shoulders and warm mugs of tea clutched in their hands, distracted Sora enough that he forgot about both his mood and the voice for a little while. 

But it kept happening. 

“This is hopeless,” Sora snarled at himself, flat on his back after a failed Aerial Recovery. 

_Try again. Don’t give up._

The voice didn’t have a sound, exactly, but Sora heard it all the same. The worse he felt, the clearer it was. It reminded him of the voice he used to hear back when they were still on the Islands, and he had strange dreams sometimes. But this voice was…different.

“Why am I so duuuuuumb?” Sora wailed, letting his head drop onto the enormous dusty book of barrier magics that he had read the same page of five times. 

_You aren’t dumb. Take a break, you’ll feel better._

“What’s wrong with you now?” Sora snapped at his body when randomly aching ankles and knees forced him to sit out an afternoon’s practice soaking in a hot bath. “You’re the worst!”

_It just means you’re growing again. It won’t last forever._

Roxas, Xion, and Lea came to visit, bringing boxes of specialty Twilight Town Bakery cookies shaped like clocktower bells and cans of inexplicably blue soda. While Lea and Riku had a meeting about starting training rotations, Roxas and Xion dragged Sora out to the lawn to show off their new combination finisher. 

“Take THAT!” Xion exclaimed, the pressure from their combined keyblade strikes blowing Sora’s hair back even though he was sitting at a safe distance on the steps. 

“It looks great,” Sora said loyally, jealousy twisting his stomach. _How can they be so far ahead of me when they both CAME from me? Why am I the worst version of all the mes?_

_You’re the only you. You’re good the way you are._

“Top that!” Roxas said smugly, hand on his hip. Xion punched him hard in the arm. 

“Shut up, Roxas!” Xion scolded. “He’s only had his keyblade back a week! You’ve never lost yours, you don’t know what that’s like.”

“Oh, right. Well…” Roxas rubbed the back of his hair sheepishly. “Wanna spar? We can go easy on you.”

“Don’t you dare,” Sora said, hauling himself off the steps. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to measure up and see exactly how far he had to go. “Show me what you’ve got!” 

A few days later, Aqua and Mickey asked Riku to come along on a trip to start looking for younger potential keyblade wielders out in the worlds. Sora going along was out of the question; aside from being an exhausting schedule, they’d be traveling through Dark Corridors since it was much faster than Gummi ship. Even if he could call a glider, Sora was a long way from testing his repaired heart with Dark Corridor travel. 

“I’ll be fine,” Sora told Riku when Riku broke the news, putting on a brave face. Inside he felt anxious and sad about being apart from Riku for the first time since Quadratum, but he was safe here at the Tower. He could last a couple weeks on his own. “You don’t have to worry about me.”

“You always say that,” Riku muttered. His goodbye hug was long and so tight it squeezed all the air out of Sora’s lungs. Sora carried the memory of it with him for the next few days, tiding him over between frequent texts and less regular video calls. 

By the end of the first week, Sora’s strategy of over-busying himself broke down as he wore himself down to exhaustion at roughly the same rate as his anxiety was rising. Riku’s last call had been two days ago, and his texts had been less frequent as he traveled further out, straining the Gummiphones’ reception. Sora’s chest felt tight all the time, as if the link between Riku and his magic inside Sora were straining from the distance, and Master Yen Sid’s assurance that the transfer was permanent and irreversible did little to stop Sora from winding himself up tighter and tighter. 

“Why am I so useless on my own?” Sora grumbled at himself, trying to work up the motivation to drag himself out of bed instead of just lying there next to a phone with 27 unanswered texts. 

_You’re not useless. Rest if you need to._

“Oh, what do you know?” Sora demanded crankily. He shoved his Gummiphone off his bed to the rug with a dull thump, and rolled over to squish his pillow to his chest, facing the wall instead of Riku’s empty side of the room. 

The worse end of the fractured sleep cycle was insomnia, and by the end of week two Sora was square in grips of it. After two nights of no meaningful rest, Sora fell asleep just long enough to have a screaming nightmare, a jumble of green flames rising and black claws that reached into the center of Sora’s chest and ripped his magic, Riku’s magic, right out. 

Sora jolted awake; for terrible, endless seconds, he couldn’t move or breathe, chest on fire. When he sucked in the first breath it burned the whole way down. Stumbling out of his own bed, Sora crawled into Riku’s instead. Rolled up tightly in blankets that still smelled like Riku, Sora cried until his whole face felt congested and his throat was raw, thinking the whole time about what an embarrassing, miserable crybaby he still was. 

_It’s ok to be scared. Your heart’s still healing._

The voice kept going that time, gently refuting every ugly thought Sora had rolling around in his sleep-deprived brain. Eventually it all went quiet, both the voice and Sora’s thoughts, as if his meltdown had poured everything out at once, leaving him blissfully empty. He didn’t sleep exactly, but for a few hours he drifted in and out of some sort of rest. 

The next morning, just after Sora had trudged down to the kitchen to force himself to eat some toast, Riku finally did call, rambling off apologies for taking so long to call as soon as Sora hit the button. Sora almost hadn’t answered, as much as he wanted to see Riku, because he didn’t think he could manage his usual ‘everything’s fine’ face. It didn’t matter in the end; Riku took one look at him and said he was coming back, no arguments. 

“I felt it, the nightmare,” Riku said. Sora dropped his eyes to his toast, picking at the crust. “I felt it but I couldn’t _do_ anything while we were between worlds.”

Sora shrugged one shoulder. “It’s not your job to fix everything.”

“I can fix _this_ ,” Riku insisted, steel in his voice. It softened immediately, though. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“No.” Sora pushed the plate away and laid his cheek down on his arm. He felt small and tired and lonely. He felt too awful to even be embarrassed about asking, “Just come back, please.”

“Yeah, yeah of course.” Riku gave Sora a reassuring smile, and even though he looked tired and frazzled, it still made Sora feel a little better. “I’ll be back before you know it.” 

Sora dragged himself through his lessons to fill up the day, hoping to exhaust himself past a possible repeat of last night. By dinner he’d had enough of the Good Fairies hovering over him, literally, and the busybody teapot nudging his steaming mug back into hand. It was a relief to escape to his room and shut the door, even if it left him alone with his unexpected nemesis, his bed. 

Without thinking very hard about what he was doing, Sora dragged a few of his favorite blankets and his pillow over to Riku’s bed, along with the keyblade romance novel. Curled up in a blanket nest with the bedside lamp still on, Sora got as comfortable as he could and hoped if he kept his brain distracted with the book he might fall asleep without noticing. 

He wasn’t having much luck with it a few hours later, when the click of the door drew his attention. Riku tiptoeing into the room was a welcome sight, and Sora snickered at how his hair was sticking out in all directions from glider travel. Riku gave up on being quiet when he realized Sora was still awake, leaning against the wall to kick off his boots. 

“Hey,” he said, and Sora murmured a hello back. “What are you doing over there?”

Sora scrunched deeper into the blankets; he wasn’t exactly embarrassed he was in Riku’s bed, but explaining why out loud was a different thing. “I dunno.”

Riku crossed the room, stripping off his jacket and keyblade armor trigger and setting them on the desk. He nudged the edge of his bed with his knee. “Room for one more?”

“Sure,” Sora said, although truthfully both of them plus all Sora’s blankets was pushing it; they weren’t little kids anymore. He held up the edge of his blankets and Riku climbed into bed to slide under them, groping through the fabric until he got a grip on Sora’s side to pull him into a hug. Sora rolled into Riku gladly, dropping the book to wrap arms tightly around Riku’s neck. 

“I’m sorry,” Riku told him, pressing his cheek against Sora’s hair. “I missed you.”

“Me too,” Sora agreed, hiding his face against Riku’s neck. Riku plainly needed a shower from too much Dark Corridor travel, the scents of sweat, darkness, and ozone lingering on his skin, but each breath Sora drew in loosened the strung-tight feeling in his chest a little more. 

“You look terrible,” Riku said, a little tease in it. 

“I feel terrible,” Sora answered bluntly, too raw-edged to play along. He squeezed Riku tighter, hoping his dumb, half-broken heart would get the message Riku was back and calm the fuck down already. “You shouldn’t have to run back here to babysit me. It’s like I’m not getting better at all!”

_You need more time. You’re doing fine._

“You just need more time,” Riku reassured, squishing Sora back just as tightly. “Considering everything you’ve been through, you’re doing fine.” That made Sora pause, frowning. While he was distracted, Riku slipped out of Sora’s grip, sitting up. “I really need a shower. After that let’s try this sleeping thing again, huh?”

“Ehh…” Sora answered vaguely, still thinking. He started to sit up too, but Riku held him in place with a hand on his shoulder. Sora blinked at him. 

“Stay. You look comfortable already.” Riku picked up Sora’s forgotten book and handed it back to him. “How many times have you read this? We should go find you some new ones while Aqua’s not around to guard her collection.”

“I like this one,” Sora said. “It’s got a happy ending _and_ a sultry pirate captain.” Riku chuckled and bopped the top of Sora’s head lightly with his fist. 

As soon as Riku had closed the bathroom door behind him, Sora set the book aside and started thinking harder about the last few weeks. By the time Riku returned, rubbing a towel over his hair, Sora was sitting up in the middle of the bed, blankets around his shoulders. 

“You look like you’re thinking hard about something,” Riku said. Opening his wardrobe, he pulled out pajama pants and a t-shirt to sleep in and turned his back to change. “Is it the pirate captain?”

“Can we talk about something?” Sora said. Riku paused with his shirt halfway on and looked over his shoulder. “About the magic.”

“Sure. Give me a minute?” Riku asked. Sora nodded. Riku finished changing, took his towels back to the bathroom to hang up, and dropped his dirty travel clothes in the hamper. He climbed into bed next to Sora, who was fidgeting with the blankets in his lap, and settled against the headboard so they were facing each other. “All right, what’s up?”

“It’s…” Sora tried to think how to explain what he’d been hearing without sounding crazy. “Do you ever hear a little voice telling you something, like your own voice? Not talking to yourself out loud, inside.”

“Sure,” Riku said. “Most people do, I think.”

“Does yours say things that aren’t so nice?” Sora asked. “About yourself?”

“Sometimes.” Riku’s voice turned quieter. “It was like that all the time for a while…but it’s better now. You?”

Sora nodded. “That’s what it’s like normally. But not lately. It’s been nicer. It says not to take things so hard, or not to worry so much.”

“That’s good.” Riku scrutinized Sora’s tense face. “Isn’t it?”

“It’s weird. It doesn’t sound like me anymore? It doesn’t sound like anything, actually, it says things, but it’s not a sound.” Sora paused to see if he was freaking Riku out yet, but Riku was still looking at him evenly. “It’s since the magic transfer spell that it’s been different.” Sora shook his head. “Riku, am I really worth all this?”

“You’re worth it,” Riku answered.

_You’re worth everything._

“Hm.” Sora bit his lip to keep from smiling. He was starting to get it now. “I think it the reason it’s different is because it isn’t mine. With your magic inside me, I think the voice might be yours too. Not you, but…things you’d say.”

Riku’s shoulders tensed immediately. “What’s it been saying?”

“Nice things,” Sora reassured. He could tell from Riku’s guarded expression that there was something here that Riku wanted him to stop poking at, but Sora wasn’t about to go back to keeping secrets between them. “You’re making a face. There’s something about the spell that you haven’t told me, isn’t there? It isn’t just anybody who could give their magic up to another person, right?”

Riku dropped his eyes. “No.”

“What was the special condition?” Sora reached out of his blankets to tilt Riku’s face back up. A pink streak was appearing across Riku’s nose. “Come on, I’ll find out on my own anyway.”

“Act of true love.” Riku cleared his throat. “It only works if it’s an act of true love.”

“Whoa. Really?” Sora asked, chest squeezing tight. Riku nodded. Sora put a hand to his chest, where Riku’s magic was humming inside him, keeping his heart safe. “Me?”

“Yeah.” Riku dropped his eyes again, shyly. “You’re…”

_The person I love most._

“Oh. Oh!” Sora got it all at once, really got it. He started laughing, and Riku’s face immediately shuttered. Sora grabbed for his hand, squeezing it. “Wait, I’m not laughing at you, it’s just, I’m so _stupid_.”

“No, you aren’t,” Riku retorted automatically. 

_You aren’t stupid._

“I really am.” Sora shook his head. “You woke me up from a cursed sleep. You wished on a star and your dream that came true was to find me. You gave me my _keyblade_ back. Like, how many fairytale acts of true love does it take to get through to a Gummi blockhead like me?”

“When you put it that way…” Riku’s expression was complicated, a little hopeful, and a little sad. “Third time’s the charm?”

Sora let go of his blankets to reach for Riku, crawling into Riku’s lap and wrapping arms around his chest. Riku hugged him back, and Sora melted into it, the tightness of Riku’s grip making him feel safe. With their chests pressed together, it felt like during Master Yen Sid’s spell, magic humming between them so that there wasn’t a clear line where Sora stopped and Riku began. The humming was too strong for anything outside the circle of their hug to break in, as if the two of them were their own small world with their own world barrier. 

Cradled like that, Sora felt safe enough to say, “You’re the person I love most, too.”

Riku went still, the hand that had been rubbing Sora’s back coming to rest at the top of his spine. “You don’t have to…I mean, just because I…”

“Not surprising you need proof,” Sora said, pulling back just far enough for them to see each other. “I haven’t changed you back from a frog, or saved you from a dragon, or anything! Quit hogging all the hero stuff, jerk.”

“Sorry.” Riku cracked a lopsided smile. His eyes were so fond, Sora had no idea how he hadn’t seen that look for what it was all this time. But he could make it up to Riku now. “Maybe if you quit getting kidnapped or enchanted into a coma every three seconds…I’m starting to think the idea of locking you in a tower has merit.”

“I’ll show you,” Sora challenged. “I can think of one act of true love you didn’t beat me to.”

“Oh?” Riku asked, raising an eyebrow. Sora leaned up, into Riku’s space, slowly so that Riku had plenty of time to stop him. He stopped just before their lips touched, hovering there, where Riku’s wide, bright eyes were all he could see. Then Riku’s eyes fluttered shut, and Sora pressed his mouth against Riku’s.

It was soft, and a little awkward with their noses bumping, but perfect because Sora could tell Riku hadn’t ever kissed someone else either. Riku was holding still, so Sora put his hands on Riku’s cheeks to fix the angle just a little. Their lips slid together more comfortably, and it was like twisting the volume up for his favorite song, only the song was the magic still humming everywhere they were touching. 

Riku rested his forehead against Sora’s. “Wow.”

“See?” Sora said, light-headed, face too hot. “I win.”

“We’re not competing,” Riku said, rolling his eyes.

“Just saying that ‘cause you’re loooosing,” Sora pressed, trying to bait Riku into kissing him again. To his delight, Riku did. Riku took the lead this time, mouth moving against Sora’s with purpose, one hand sliding into the back of Sora’s hair. This kiss turned into two, and then three; they were both breathing fast when it broke. 

“ _Now_ I’m winning,” Riku insisted. Sora tried to gasp indignantly but ended up laughing instead, his whole chest buzzing with his own feelings and Riku’s magic. Riku’s echoing laugh cut off into a wide yawn. 

“Time for bed, huh?” Sora said reluctantly. Even with Riku here he wasn’t looking forward to trying to sleep again. Riku scrunched Sora’s hair gently, eyes sympathetic.

“You don’t want to? Your eye circles look like Lucid Shards,” Riku said. Sora shook his head. “Reading didn’t help, I guess.”

“No,” Sora agreed. His throat tightened up, but he swallowed past it. “I’ll try again. Maybe it’ll go better now that I know you’re back safe.”

“You can take wall side,” Riku offered, reluctantly letting go of Sora to tug the sheet out from under his butt. “Any monsters will have to eat me first.” 

“My hero.” Sora picked up his blankets to shake them out over both of them, then crawled under the sheet Riku was holding up for him. They had to scrunch close together on their sides to make it work, knees bumping. “See, if you locked me in a tower you wouldn’t get to show off.” Riku grunted, fussing with his position and pillow, trying to get comfortable in the small space. “Hey. Come here.”

“What? I’m already…oh.” Riku realized that Sora was holding out his arm for Riku to slide under. “Really?”

“Uh-huh.” Sora made the grabby motion with his fingers. Riku edged in cautiously, trying to keep their faces level on the pillow. “No, down. Like you’re the stuffed animal.”

“You’re a stuffed animal,” Riku grumbled, sliding down a little. It worked more or less like Sora had thought it would, Riku’s head resting against Sora’s shoulder, under Sora’s chin, his arm coming to rest naturally across Sora’s waist. “Ok, this is kind of nice. Shut up.”

“Even an idiot like me has good ideas sometimes,” Sora retorted. _Not an idiot,_ the voice said. Sora slid fingers in the back of Riku’s hair, where it was starting to get long again, sifting the strands through his fingers. Riku’s weight slumped into him more fully, pleasantly heavy. Sora really wanted to kiss Riku again; he should have done it a few more times before they got comfortable. “Riku?”

“Hm?” Riku sounded half-asleep already. Sora wondered if he was almost-asleep enough that he’d answer a question honestly. 

“Were you ever going to tell me on your own?” he asked. Riku’s slow breathing stopped. After a second of silence, Sora added, “If you don’t want to talk about it, it’s ok.”

Riku exhaled slowly, deep enough Sora could feel it through his T-shirt. “I wanted to. There’s always too many things happening, to both of us. Being your best friend is easy. I didn’t want to heap one more thing on top of you, to…”

Riku trailed off, but his hand was clenching up in the back of Sora’s T-shirt. Sora knew those signs well enough, when Riku had something he wanted to say but couldn’t find the words. 

But he could listen this time, Sora realized. If it really was Riku’s magic who had been talking to him for weeks, maybe it could tell him about Riku too, if he listened. He closed his eyes and thought about what Riku had said, trying to hear what was really underneath it. 

_I’m lucky to have you at all._

“You’re my best friend even when it isn’t easy,” Sora murmured, trying to reassure Riku without losing the thread of feeling he was following. “I wouldn’t ever want anyone else.”

_Asking more from you is selfish._

“It isn’t selfish to want things for yourself.” Sora felt Riku’s breath catch. “Feelings change. Friendships change. It’s ok for what you want to change.”

“I know,” Riku said, so quietly. “I just…”

_I wasn’t brave enough to hear you say no._

Sora’s whole chest ached in sympathy. Tugging gently on Riku’s hair, he tried to pull Riku’s head back so they could look at each other, but Riku refused to budge. 

Sora gave up on pulling. He pressed lips to the top of Riku’s head. “I won’t say no, if you still want to say. Out loud, I mean.”

Riku didn’t say anything at first. Sora was a little disappointed, but if Riku wasn’t ready, he could understand that. Then Riku drew in a breath, tensing, and Sora held perfectly still, afraid to interrupt. 

“I love you.” Riku’s voice was soft, muffled against Sora’s shirt, but Sora understood him. “Sora, I’ve always…” Riku’s breath hitched, his arm tightening around Sora’s waist. 

“I’m glad you told me,” Sora said. He was struggling not to squirm, the knot of emotions in his chest feeling too big for his reconstructed heart to handle. “Thanks for waiting for me. And all that other stuff, you know, true love’s magic donation and everything.”

“Sora!” Riku’s laugh was nasal, and when he finally let Sora pull his head back, his eyes were glassy. “I guess we make a pretty stupid fairy tale. Would you settle for a questionable romance novel?”

“As a matter of fact, I love those,” Sora answered, grinning fondly down at Riku. “You’re the keyblade master so I get to be the sultry pirate captain, right? I could also manage bewitching vampire or alluring merman, if those float your boat.”

“Oh my god,” Riku groaned. “If you say ‘there’s only one bed in this tower—’”

“I see there’s only one bed in this tower!” Sora blustered in his best captain’s voice, heat catching in his chest when Riku laughed so hard he snorted. “We shall have to make the best of it! Unless you would prefer to retire to my quarters aboard my Gummiship…”

“Stop!” Riku laughed helplessly. “We are absolutely getting you a new book tomorrow, geez. What am I supposed to do with you?”

“Keep me,” Sora said as Riku resettled against him. He’d meant to be flip, but a twist of warmth sparked in his chest like a half-cast Fira. “Long as you want.”

Riku squeezed Sora tightly enough to drive the air out of his lungs, and Sora already knew the answer before Riku said the word, “Yes.”


End file.
